Scanadu Aims to Empower Patients with DIY Vital Signs Device

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devices like blood glucose readers. That will reassure users ensure that Scanadu conforms to the necessary standards, and reduce liability.

The three products will not be released until they make it through FDA testing, but de Brouwer expects them to hit the market before the end of 2013. “We prepared our case well so the FDA will have less work,” he says. “We think there is a clean road ahead.” The company believes the Scout will sell for around $150

The idea behind Scout isn’t to bypass traditional treatments so much as to supplement them, so that patients can track themselves at home and have a better understanding of their health, as well as share that data with medical professionals. De Brouwer himself has been playing with the device to monitor what happens to his own vital signs when he takes his medication or a sleeping pill, or what activities or habits might trigger a spike in his blood pressure.

So far the company has raised more than $4 million in private funding, but declines to divulge exactly how much or where it came from.

In the future, de Brouwer expects Scanadu to put out more innovative, consumer-focused health devices. But for now the company is focused on getting the Scout on the market and ensuring both consumers and professionals will trust it.

“In the medical world, it’s different,” he says. “You need a Goldilocks device respected by doctors and patients so you can sit together and talk about the same things.”